The Real Car Business

https://www.autoremarketing.com/wholesale/daag-enters-atlanta-market-acquisition Some debate yesterday on ATI about where the industry is heading, and the DAA Group indicates its more bricks. Digital seems to be showing signs of limitations in that the facilitation and logistics that are needed by large commercial consignors and larger dealer groups simply are not there. Let's see if the ACVA antitrust suit goes anywhere... and if AutoIMS is permitted... my theory may be proved short sighted.

Perhaps it's not a war, but more like a skirmish! And as discussed during Jay's YouTube, I defined three areas to consider as this works itself through: First- this is a legal matter and there is plenty to be determined so that in the meantime, know that everything else is just conjecture. Second- this is as much a reflection of the limitiations digital auctions offer to commercial consignors than it is about legal right. If the "digital product" was as strong as it says it is, then the market would flood toward it. The reality is that brick & mortar auctions have blacktop to park cars on... commercial sellers need blacktop! Third- that as the two offerings have this legal skirmish, the dealer body remains "fractured" because they don't have a complete 360 degree view of the market. They have to shop for commercial consignors vehicles in one mode, and dealers vehicles across another mode. The auction houses seem to either not know (or care) tha

I have been attending and participating in a new podcast, "Auto Transport Intel" that Jay Wertzberger produces and broadcasts with Ty Thompson. It drills in on automotive transport and is dedicated to improving the industry. A topic I explored with them recently was focused on not how to get new business as a transporter but a revealing look at some of the reasons we can't get new business. The theme was that if we look at ourselves with open eyes and ask if we feel if we're putting our best foot forward, what little things could we do to improve our professional profile... and that triggered the theme, "reimagining service". Over the next several weeks, I'll define Reimagining Service in more detail, and we will dig in on the relationships that the car auctions have with vehicle transporters. Stay tuned!

2019 is on the doorstep and it's a knocking! The other sound you hear is the swirling, swarming change the auto auction business is going through and a major thrust came today from the venture capital market! Not new to the market any longer... far removed from the start-up it was referred to as... and now financially positioned to expand our technology and geographic scope, ACV Auctions is better positioned to put your wholesale, aged, and duplicate inventory in front of a variety and depth of automobile buyers that the wholesale auction market has never seen. 20-minute auctions, in depth condition reports, title services, and transportation logistics combined with the efficiencies of conducting your auction business from your phone are the game changes that Bain Capital Partners, Bessemer Venture... and dealers across the US are banking on to position their business for the dynamic that is in front of us the next 12 months. Are you in position to adapt? Contact me or any of

Tuesday on our Company sales call after returning from this years NADA, it struck all of us that were there how far ACV Auctions has come this past year. Overwhelmingly, the buzz at our area was palpable. You could see it and hear it... and for the majority of the show, we had groups of people from different dealerships all together listing to us demonstrate. From large metro-Houston group size owners to a small Ford store in VT., they all listened and asked the same question, "... when can you start my store...?" ACV has had explosive growth (400%++ year-to-year) and that growth has been delivered just as seamlessly as the first years sold units- if not even more smoothly with the integration of enhanced operations in Buffalo, the addition of experienced Auto Auction managers, financial experts, HR and Talent acquisition specialists, as well as nearly doubling the internal staff who are processing the over 350+ titles coming in the door every morning! The growth to us

Earlier today on LinkedIn following a post I had made about a successful auction, a connection remarked, "they say you never have to sell anything if you can show someone you have a solution to a problem they have". This industry affiliate was commenting on what they have seen ACV doing in the wholesale car auction space by simply delivering up-front transparency in a low fee, time saving application from your hand held device. What I took from this comment supported what I've learned over the years and that's that you cant "tell" anything to a car guy about the car business he or she doesn't already know! What we are hearing now when OUR phone rings is that these same car guys are asking ! That's a big shift- a tectonic shift in the wholesale landscape! Maybe ACV is something they aren't exactly sure about... they haven't learned it yet. And that's the difference! As new users learn about the fees, the condition report, the ship